The conventional lathe is provided with a lathe tool which is mounted fixedly on a tool mount. When the lathe tool is impacted on excessively by a work piece, the lathe tool remains stationary. As a result, the lathe tool and the tool mount are highly vulnerable to damage, thereby bringing about a work interruption calling for an expensive repair work. The conventional method of preventing such an incident as described above from taking place is carried out by a feedback system, which is rather primitive and is therefore ineffective at best.